In order to use BSQ imagery in ESRI ArcGIS 8.

x ArcMap follow the steps below:

1.

2.

Rename Your .L1G File: For ArcView to recognize the .L1G Landsat bands as
legitimate images, they need to be renamed with a .bsq extension. Right click the
.L1G bands and rename them with the same file name, substituting only the
.L1G extension with .bsq. Note that this step reflects a limitation of
ArcView, not of the imagery provided.
Create a World File to Allow ArcGIS to Import the Bands: In the case of
our sample image [bookmark above], open the .glcf file you downloaded. It
should list all the information you will need for basic image display and analysis.
Create a text file with the extension .hdr. The file should appear similar to the
example shown below but you will need to change the parameter information
based on the documentation for each of the data files:
Image BSQ header file
nrows 7041
ncols 7921
nbands 1
nbits 8
layout bsq
skipbytes 0
ulxmap 147300
ulymap 1704900
xdim 28.5
ydim 28.5

3.
4.

5.

6.

Start ArcMap: In MS Windows this will generally be through either a desktop

icon or an entry under the Start -> Program Files ->ArcGIS section of the
Windows menu. Open A New Empty Map when the program initializes.
Activate the Appropriate Extensions: In order to retrieve spatial data from an
image it is necessary to have the Spatial Analyst extension installed. In ArcView
go to File -> Extensions and ensure that Spatial Analyst support is installed and
checked.
Add and Display as Raster Imagery: Highlight a blank data frame and select
File -> Add Data. Navigate to the location where the land cover data set is
located, it will display with a beige icon next to it. Highlight the data set and
click Add. It will display as a grayscale image in your data frame.
Save your Work: File -> Save As, indicate a path and name and click OK.

A Note on Spatial Reference Data in ArcGIS: The user will need to enter the
projection and spatial data information manually. To do this right click the data frame and
select Properties. Navigate to the Coordinate System tag. Enter the appropriate data
and click OK. It may be necessary to reconcile the projections of the image and any
shapefiles/layers with which it will be used.
A Note on RGB Color Composites and ArcGIS: Many users find that it is easier to
composite image bands and conduct robust image processing functions prior to importing
data into ArcGIS. An example is using ERDAS to do layer stacking and exporting the
resultant RGB composite as a GeoTIFF which is then used in ArcGIS. The user may

optionally also convert the bands to GRIDs to access some of the higher-end features of
ArcGIS.
A Note on MrSID and ArcGIS: A useful feature of ArcGIS is that ArcCatalog is able
to export rasters of up to 50MB to MrSID format. This can prove helpful in reducing the
size of derived products.